District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies. A graduate of University of New Mexico School of Law, Mary lives in Santa Fe with her wife Jo, a retired law enforcement officer, and their two energetic young children.
Posted on 10/26/2021 10:15:07 AM PDT by xxqqzz
Crew members on the set of "Rust" used guns with live ammunition and engaged in a pastime called "plinking" hours before Halyna Hutchins was killed, founder and CEO of The Wrap, Sharon Waxman, told CNN's Don Lemon Monday night, citing information from an individual with knowledge of the set.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
So I don’t know anything about how firearms are handled on movie sets, but I DO know a bit about single action revolvers.
I am assuming they used something similar to a Colt Model 1873 ‘Peacemaker.’ That seems to be the standard for Westerns.
To fire a single action revolver, you have to manually cock the hammer. This advances the cylinder to bring the next chamber into battery.
To load a standard Peacemaker (or faithful facsimile thereof), you half-cock the weapon and open the loading gate, then load rounds one at time through the gate. You can’t see which chambers are loaded from the rear; you have to check the cylinder from the side, or half cock the pistol, open the loading gate and spin the cylinder. Generally you load five and leave an empty chamber under the hammer, but there was only a single round in the cylinder.
Other information indicates that the armorer is an idiot almost completely unacquainted with firearms. She was hired for her looks and her family connections.
The revolver was supposedly used by the crew for target practice. So, most likely, the last person to fire it didn’t shoot all the rounds, and the single remaining cartridge was in the wrong place - ready to come into battery. The idiot armorer put it up loaded. Then she put it back out for the scene without checking it and said it was empty. The assistant director failed to check and told Baldwin it was a ‘cold gun.’ Baldwin (being an idiot) didn’t check the gun and holstered it. Tragedy ensues.
I think that is the most likely explanation.
I like this theory because it relies on good old reliable human stupidity.
If it was sabotage, it could have easily been prevented by one of three people, each of whom should have checked, actually checking the weapon.
So that makes it most likely an accident. A stupid, tragic, meaningless accident. Baldwin will most likely get off with a slap on the wrist, or maybe to the face. The movie doesn’t get made. His reputation as a producer goes in the crapper. He might get charged with involuntary manslaughter, maybe. Don’t expect any major charges against him, though.
HUH? Something happened concerning arek barwin and a gun on a movie production in New Mexico and a cinematographer? Should this be BREAKING!?
:-}
It explains how Alec will try to weasel out of pointing a functioning handgun at a woman’s chest and pulling the trigger slamming a live round clean through her chest killing her and wounding a second victim.
Let’s go Alec!
Anti gun liberals possibly, out enjoying the fun sport of target practice?
“...and engaged in a pastime called “plinking”..”
Who is the tenderfoot who wrote that?
I followed this story for a while and read quite a few articles. I came to the following conclusion:
The core problem was an incompetent Armorer, Hannh Gutierrez, or perhaps the assistant director, Dave Halls.
This is a damning statement from one of the articles:
“Court records indicate that an assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating incorrectly that the weapon didn’t carry live rounds by yelling ‘cold gun.’”
It’s possible it WAS cold when placed on the cart, but then a bunch of crew members loaded it for some fun target shooting and then put it back, and it was just “assumed” the gun was still unloaded. And, of course, that last part speaks to how a LOT of people are killed by “unloaded” guns.
It’s possible that a LOT of people could be culpable in this. Whoever last held the gun and was responsible for ensuring it was unloaded could be held responsible, but if AFTER that person handled it, someone else loaded it, that brings up a whole new problem.
Baldwin cocked the single action pistol, aimed it at the cinematographer’s chest, and pulled the trigger. Blasted her in the chest at near point-blank range.
All a big joke. Fun and laughs. “Ha ha. I’m going to shoot you. Hah ha.”
Even painting this in the light most favorable to Baldwin, it’s hard to see how he could escape criminal liability, aside from being a wealthy and well-connected Hollywood liberal.
New Mexico’s version of involuntary homicide reads “Involuntary manslaughter consists of manslaughter committed in the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to felony, or in the commission of a lawful act which might produce death in an unlawful manner or without due caution and circumspection.”
I’m not a lawyer, but he seems to meet the following elements:
1) “lawful act which might produce death” and “without due caution and circumspection”.
It’s the sort of thing that usually gets applied when a car is operated recklessly, but I don’t see why it would not apply in this case.
Frankly, the person who placed the loaded gun on a prop cart would also seem to meet those elements. But it’s not either Baldwin or the prop master , they both were unconscionably negligent.
Everyone that I know who is familiar with guns knows this in his bones, but the “hey, it’s just a prop and he’s just an actor how could he have known” media spin does seem to be convincing to the masses.
Lezbo Santa Fe County district attorney won’t prosecute him.
Yeh, that is what probably happened. Baldwin was playing a joke shooting with blanks.
There should be at least manslaughter charges against at least Baldwin and whoever loaded the gun with live ammunition, not saying there will be. Both seem like almost murder, like people have been convicted of murder for driving very drunk the wrong way on an interstate.
Back at the farm where some of my family lives they go plinking often. At least that’s what they call it.
Soros DA?
Is there any way to find this out for sure? Seems to me to be an important point that no "reporter" has brought up. Who was plinking with it? Who put it back on that table?
Lezbo Soros DA
There are a lot of details but what’s important is that Alec Baldwin and the armorer did not check to see if the pistol had only blanks in it. And then Baldwin purposefully pointed the pistol at a woman and pulled the trigger. That rates criminal charges. If some guy did this at a barbeque at home he would be in jail right now. This is worse. They are supposed to be professionals.
Prop guns either cannot shoot or can only shoot blanks!
He's just an idiot actor who claims to know all there is to know about guns and obviously missed the childhood lesson of never point a gun at another even if it's a toy.
Sounds like involuntary manslaughter should be the charged crime after the DA rules out intention to kill.
Exactly.
The amount of media spin this guy has been getting is disgusting.
He’ll likely walk based on his connections, but it’s maddening.
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